Hemophilia Home is a nonprofit established to improve the quality of life for patients with hemophilia by collecting knowledge on hemophilia and helping destitute patients.

My son was born in July 2007 - a very cute, plump baby at the time of birth. I was so excited to have my first child and laid out plans with joy for his future. However, the good time didn’t last very long. When the child was four months old, he had a severe fever that required infusion at the local county hospital. The needle used for the infusion caused blood to percolate and triggered the formation of a large hematoma. Doctors at the hospital were unable to figure out what went wrong and didn’t know how to handle it. That same night, an emergency ambulance took my child to a city hospital for further checkup and treatment. When the test results came out, it broke my heart and the plans I had for my child.

When my son was two and half years old, the stress on our finances and health were mounting. My husband finally broke down and he could no longer deal with this hardship. He walked away from our marriage; we divorced and left a big home mortgage behind. He agreed to pay ￥500 Yuan of alimony every month; but, three years after our divorce, he hasn’t paid one penny of the alimony.

My wage as a school teacher is quite low, less than ￥1500 Yuan a month. The monthly mortgage payment takes away ￥670 Yuan. The basic utilities each month require ￥100 Yuan. This leaves me only ￥700 Yuan for everything else. My son’s medical treatment alone is more than ￥1,000 Yuan a month. I have little choice but to borrow money from my parents and my brother, just to get by.

As a school teacher, I have a four-month vacation each year for the summer and winter breaks. I take advantage of this and take on some odd jobs as a day labor and a street vendor to earn additional income. With all of this, it is still far less than what I need to repay the debt. With a teacher’s income, I can’t qualify for low cost medical insurance subsidized by the government.

During the Spring festival this year, at my brother’s house, I borrowed his internet and found out that there was a program sponsored by the “Marine Paradise Foundation”. This program offered living allowance and care for children with rare diseases. Learning that there were so many kind, generous people with caring hearts who advocated for vulnerable people like me, I was motivated and regained my confidence and hope in life.

Original article was written by Zheng Liu, translated by Joe Hsu, and edited by Yanyan Zhang.